and put poison into his food. His sister saw
this from a window, and closed the shutter; and the boy understood the
sign, and withdrew his hand from the dish, and said, "It is hard that
the virtuous should perish and that the vicious should occupy their
places." Were the homayi, or phoenix, to be extinct in the world, none
would take refuge under the shadow of an owl. They informed the father
of this event; he sent for the brothers and rebuked them, as they
deserved. Then he made a division of his domains, and gave a suitable
portion to each, that discontent might cease; but the ferment was
increased, as they have said: Ten dervishes can sleep on one rug, but
two kings cannot be accommodated in a whole kingdom. When a man after
God's heart can eat the moiety of his loaf, the other moiety he will
give in alms to the poor. A king may acquire the sovereignty of one
climate or empire; and he will in like manner covet the possession of
another.

IV

A horde of Arab robbers had possessed themselves of the fastness of a
mountain, and waylaid the track of the caravan. The yeomanry of the
villages were frightened at their stratagems, and the king's troops
alarmed, inasmuch as they had secured an impregnable fortress on the
summit of the mountain, and made this stronghold their retreat and
dwelling.

The superintendents of the adjacent districts consulted together about
obviating their mischief, saying: If they are in this way left to
improve their fortune, any opposition to them may prove impracticable.
The tree that has just taken root, the strength of one man may be able
to extract; but leave it to remain thus for a time, and the machinery of
a purchase may fail to eradicate it: the leak at the dam-head might have
been stopped with a plug, while, now it has a vent, we cannot ford its
current on an elephant.

Finally it was determined that they should set a spy over them, and
watch an opportunity when they had made a sally upon another tribe, and
left their citadel unguarded. Some companies of able warriors and
experienced troops were sent, that they might conceal themselves in the
recesses of the mountain. At night, when the robbers were returned,
jaded with their march and laden with spoil, and had stripped themselves
of their armor, and deposited their plunder, the foremost enemy they had
to encounter was sleep. Now that the first watch of night was
gone:--"the disc of the sun was withdrawn into a shade, and Jonas ha